<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>By the Witness of the Martyrs by within_a_dream</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907133">By the Witness of the Martyrs</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/pseuds/within_a_dream'>within_a_dream</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Era, F/M, Femdom, Historical Pornography, Impact Play, Kinking on Catholicism, kind character discovers they're a sadist in the bedroom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:01:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>868</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907133</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/within_a_dream/pseuds/within_a_dream</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cosette finds marital bliss to be more like marital monotony, until she takes some steps to improve matters</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cosette Fauchelevent/Marius Pontmercy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bulletproof 20/21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>By the Witness of the Martyrs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldsandrubies/gifts">emeraldsandrubies</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Mostly Brick canon, possibly some musical has crept in. (And of course I stole from the musical for the title.)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cosette had expected more from the marital bed. When she had allowed herself to imagine it, she’d seen images of the saints in ecstasy in her mind – Saint Teresa pierced through with a holy beam of light, Saint Sebastian bearing the Romans’ arrows with his face upturned in beatific acceptance. Some nights she had found herself so full of holy passion that she felt she might come apart at the seams.</p><p>Her wedding night had brought none of that holy ecstasy. If she were inclined to be kind to Marius, the best she might do would be to describe him as efficient. He seemed embarrassed to look at her and embarrassed to enter her, and while the act brought none of the pain that her classmates at the convent had whispered about, neither did it bring much pleasure.</p><p>Finding the books was an extraordinary stroke of luck. Cosette had been searching behind the bed for a necklace she’d misplaced (it seemed so foolish to bother the maid) when she’d found a small stack of books, bound in plain and worn covers. They were in foreign languages, most in English, so she couldn’t read them, but the illustrations were very revealing. She opened the first book to a dog-eared page, and found an illustration that took her breath away. A girl was laid across a table, her dress hitched up to leave her bare-arsed. A nun stood behind her, wielding a switch, and the girl’s arse was already ruddy with blows.</p><p>Cosette felt the same sort of swoop in her stomach she’d felt as a young girl, poring over books of martyrs. She feverishly flipped through the book, each page bringing new revelations. On one, the nun had slid her fingers inside the girl, taking her like a man takes his wife. On another, a priest forced his member into the girl’s mouth while the nun licked between her legs (Cosette wondered how that would feel, and if Marius would do it to her).</p><p>Cosette kept the book, stowing it deep in her wardrobe. She wished she could read English.</p><p>It was easy enough to procure a switch. Cosette left it on their nightstand, and when Marius came to bed that night, she let her hand linger on it.</p><p>“I found a very interesting book.” She kept her voice light, but Marius’ face still fell into panic. His expression gave her a strange sort of joy, one she felt in her gut.</p><p>“You know that I translated before we met,” he stammered, his face going all red. “They were just left over from my work - ”</p><p>She cut him off. Mercifully, if you asked her. “The illustrations were very illuminating.” She brought the switch down onto the pillow. Marius flinched, eyes wide. “Take your trousers off.”</p><p>Marius obeyed, and he’d already come halfway to hardness, faster than he’d ever managed before. It seemed Cosette had found her equal and opposite. She slid her hand over his arse, remembering the girl in the illustrations, and shoved him onto his hands and knees. He went willingly, letting out a little gasp she recognized as pleasure.</p><p>When she brought the switch down, it left a pleasant red stripe across Marius’ buttocks. He moaned, his hand going to his member. Cosette considered slapping it away, but she decided to allow it. There would be other opportunities. She hit him again, three times in quick succession, and now his legs were trembling, and he moaned into the quilt he’d buried his face in. Cosette alternated the blows with caresses, enjoying the warmth of his skin against her hand. He’d be sore tomorrow. He’d remember her every time he sat down. That sent another thrill through Cosette, and she brought her hand between her legs, feeling her own wetness.</p><p>In joint with a particularly harsh blow, Marius spent, his legs finally giving out as he slid onto his belly.</p><p>“Did that hurt?” Cosette asked, resting her hand on his arse.</p><p>Marius nodded, letting out a whimper.</p><p>“Did you enjoy it?”</p><p>“Very much.” His voice shook.</p><p>“There’s one more thing I want to try.” Cosette sat back against the bedframe, tugging at Marius’ hair until he followed her. “Use your mouth on me.”</p><p>She wasn’t entirely sure how this was meant to go. The illustrations had been vague on details, and she hadn’t been sure she would even enjoy it.</p><p>She needn’t have worried. Marius knew what he was doing, at least more than Cosette did, and every movement of his tongue sent more thrills through her. She reached her climax with her hands in Marius’ hair, pulling tightly enough that it must have hurt, and Marius ceased his movements with a sigh.</p><p>So <em>that</em> was what it was meant to feel like, Cosette thought. She gestured for Marius to come up beside her, and he did so, wincing a bit as he moved.</p><p>“Why didn’t we do that sooner?”</p><p>“It isn’t how one is meant to behave to one’s wife,” Marius mumbled into her shoulder.</p><p>“And a wife is certainly not supposed to punish her husband like a child, but I think we can forego propriety between ourselves.”</p><p>Marius laughed. “I leave myself in your hands.”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>